TV Review: Syfy’s ‘Helix’

Syfy premieres Helix on Friday Jan. 10, 10 p.m. ET. The following are reviews from TV critics around the web, compiled by B&C.

"Created by Cameron Porsandeh, it’s a delicate balancing act, but the two-episode premiere (airing with limited commercials) and a subsequent hour – enhanced by Campbell’s stiff-upper-lipped performance, and the clever promo slogan 'Play God. Pay the price' – dangle enough DNA strands for a discerning audience to want to see where they might lead."—Brian Lowry, Variety

"Claustrophobia, cabin fever and not knowing whom to trust are the standard features. There are strains of The Andromeda Strain, Michael Crichton's tale of microbes gone wild, and as a story of spreading infection, it also has a little zombie in its black blood and mucus."—Robert Lloyd, Los Angeles Times

"All of this talent seems to prop up a paper-thin plot that threatens to blow away at any moment. Porsandeh’s pilot script feels at all times like Character Introduction 101, and the dialogue too often falls flat, as the characters speak in simple, declamatory statements, rather than anything with spark."—Todd VanDerWerff, A.V. Club

"There's nothing all that original about Helix, but it works well enough. The script gets bogged down in soap opera suds from time to time, especially when it involves the love triangle. There are also credibility problems with some of the characters, but again, that's where it's useful not to think too much."—David Wiegand, San Francisco Chronicle

"Fans of sci-fi horror, and of Billy Campbell, should enjoy Helix, a mash-up of The Thing and The Andromeda Strain that sends a team of CDC scientists led by Campbell's Dr. Farragut to a remote Arctic research facility where an experiment has gone hideously wrong (as they tend to do in such films). The plot creaks, but for the most part, Helix is sufficiently scary. Unfortunately, outside of Campbell, it's insufficiently cast and performed."—Robert Bianco, USA Today

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